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11-05-2013, 02:12 PM   #76
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QuoteOriginally posted by kivis Quote
What? There are stores with Pentax cameras?
You will have a better chance spotting Sasquatch in North Florida. The sad part is I am not joking!

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11-05-2013, 03:40 PM   #77
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QuoteOriginally posted by enoxatnep Quote
I'm another western Canadian, an Albertan, who's blessed by several retailers who are more than cool with Pentax users. Most of them have only a modest amount of Pentax stock on hand but they can order pretty much anything you want. The one with the best stock and service is in Calgary, and they are any Pentax user's dream!
Here in the Calgary area we are blessed to multiple retailers who carry Pentax equipment. I know exactly which store you are referring to. The Camera Store is simply the best in the city, I've always had a great experience with them.
11-05-2013, 04:23 PM   #78
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QuoteOriginally posted by JenniferLeigh Quote
The Camera Store is simply the best in the city, I've always had a great experience with them.
I usually get my Pentax gear and accessories locally. However, I have made two purchases from The Camera Store and was very satisfied with their prices and service.

Speaking of The Camera Store, they've produced an excellent video of their hands-on field review of the K-3 - see it at the PF K-3 section.

- Craig
11-06-2013, 11:34 AM   #79
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QuoteOriginally posted by kivis Quote
Just went on their site. No Pentax's listed. Bummer, I was going to near there in a week.
Rest assured they have Pentax. Their website is in the middle of a major remodeling and if you look around there is a lot of stuff missing. They are a much better camera store than they are web designers.

Mike

11-06-2013, 05:58 PM   #80
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QuoteOriginally posted by JenniferLeigh Quote
Here in the Calgary area we are blessed to multiple retailers who carry Pentax equipment. I know exactly which store you are referring to. The Camera Store is simply the best in the city, I've always had a great experience with them.
Okay, yeah - it's The Camera Store indeed. I guess I didn't want to undermine the other Calgary retailers that carry Pentax, but yes, nothing quite compares to them in ALL respects.
11-06-2013, 06:04 PM   #81
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I guess I should also mention the one retailer that takes anti-Pentax snobbery to new - excuse me - *Vistek* **VISTEK** - just had to sneeze a couple of times there. Anyhow, there's one retailer in Calgary that is so snobbish regarding Pentax that their name isn't even worth mentioning. Their heads are exclusively stuck in the Canikon sand and they're my last choice regarding even accessory purchases. Anyhow, that's my $0.025 worth on this topic.

EDIT: Okay, I was wrong. I see Pentax bodies and lenses on their site. I guess it's been so long since I went there for Pentax gear that I forgot they sold it. But I don't forget the attitude I received there when I started out with Pentax back in '08, as though I just crawled out of a sewage lagoon; simply inexcusable for someone who actually carries their product.

Last edited by enoxatnep; 11-06-2013 at 06:40 PM.
11-06-2013, 06:06 PM   #82
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2,893 miles. There is one store in SF that will special-order Pentax gear, but it comes at a premium and has to be paid for up front.

11-06-2013, 07:00 PM   #83
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Luckily mine is about 2 miles away - their selection is bad for new but not a bad place to find used K-mount lenses Otherwise it's 1200 miles away in New York City...
11-06-2013, 07:34 PM   #84
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QuoteOriginally posted by enoxatnep Quote
I guess I should also mention the one retailer that takes anti-Pentax snobbery to new - excuse me - *Vistek* **VISTEK** - just had to sneeze a couple of times there. Anyhow, there's one retailer in Calgary that is so snobbish regarding Pentax that their name isn't even worth mentioning. Their heads are exclusively stuck in the Canikon sand and they're my last choice regarding even accessory purchases. Anyhow, that's my $0.025 worth on this topic.

EDIT: Okay, I was wrong. I see Pentax bodies and lenses on their site. I guess it's been so long since I went there for Pentax gear that I forgot they sold it. But I don't forget the attitude I received there when I started out with Pentax back in '08, as though I just crawled out of a sewage lagoon; simply inexcusable for someone who actually carries their product.
Amazing how the Vistek main store in Toronto creates the same feeling…. if you go in you feel like apologizing for being there. They must teach that in their orientations for new staff.
11-07-2013, 06:28 AM   #85
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QuoteOriginally posted by normhead Quote
Amazing how the Vistek main store in Toronto creates the same feeling…. if you go in you feel like apologizing for being there. They must teach that in their orientations for new staff.
At least I'm not the only one who's experienced this! Too bad for them it seems to be a part of their culture.
11-07-2013, 08:17 AM   #86
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Here in the Atlanta area it was rumored a year or so ago that Showcase, the premier brick and mortar store remaining in the area, had a small Pentax presence. When I last visited for some emergency film ($8.00 plus for Ilford 24exp!!) I didn't see any. That said, they are nice folks there, quite knowledgeable. I walked in with my 645n in search of, IIRC, a Nikon D3 eyepiece which I gathered would fit the 645. The guy I worked with was most helpful; he'd owned a 645n for wedding shoots and spoke highly of it. They didn't have the eyepiece, sadly. Their website which I checked just a moment ago doesn't mention Pentax. While they carry used Nikon, Canon, and Olympus, no Pentax gear.

For used gear I use Wings Camera, which is 100 years old!! Mike is cordial, knows his stuff, and has a reasonable selection of used Pentax stuff. Let's support local business!

Wolf/Ritz camera which used to carry Pentax has of course melted down. Their flagship store is but a shadow of its former self. I used to shop their local branch only 2 miles from me; good staff, cordial, knowledgeable. Good prices on snapshot prints. A fair amount of staff turnover, perhaps a sign of the trouble brewing. Their website lists a good range of Pentax, but the sole remaining store in the Atlanta area when last I visited had no Pentax, but a rather surly staff. One store in a major metro area....!
11-07-2013, 08:55 AM   #87
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Over here in Toronto, the main camera store that still caries Pentax is Henris and they are pretty much all over Toronto.
There is a store 10 minutes away from my work place and another one 6 minutes away from my home.

There are quite a few other private smaller stores that sell Pentax equipment, especially in the Asian market. I have to be honest... Pentax can be easily found in Toronto if one looks for it.

Black's use to carry Pentax cameras as well but they stopped quite some time ago. Will be nice to start carrying it again.

As for Vistek stores... don't get me started on them... I never buy from there or plan to.

---

EDIT - Black's stores

Back with some good news I guess... looks like Black's are planning to bring back Pentax gear to their stores:
http://www.blacks.ca/User/feeds/blog/id/13996

Last edited by mrNewt; 11-07-2013 at 09:12 AM.
11-07-2013, 09:37 AM   #88
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QuoteOriginally posted by normhead Quote
Amazing how the Vistek main store in Toronto creates the same feeling…. if you go in you feel like apologizing for being there. They must teach that in their orientations for new staff.
Back in 2007, I ordered a Pentax Mount Adapter K from the main Toronto Vistek for $22.50. I was told it would be in in a couple weeks. I ended up going in to politely inquire about my adapters whereabouts every couple of weeks for about 4 or 5 months, always being told "a couple of weeks" and given with the feeling that this was just a delaying tactic with the hope that I would go away and never come back. A good feeling to leave a retail store with. Eventually it came in and I then went away and never went back.

To be fair to Vistek, the downtown Henrys tried the same tactic on me a few months earlier in 2006 (also for a Pentax Mount Adapter K, and at a similar price) and it did eventually work. I'm still anxiously waiting by the phone for Henrys to let me know when my adapter comes in and I'm happy they didn't make me pay in advance (Vistek required prepayment, which is why I was more persistent). Both list the adapter at ~$90 today.

Both stores are now dead to me.
11-07-2013, 10:03 AM   #89
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I've never gone to Vistek for anything Pentax related but my experience with their customer service has not been good - I won't go back. From what I've heard from other customers, this seems to be the norm with them. Robinson's Camera on 9th also carries Pentax, I've only ever gone in there for film development but the customer service is great.

I have a London Drugs by my house that also sells Pentax. Although, I like to support from the smaller local shops like the Camera Store or Robinson's
11-07-2013, 10:18 AM   #90
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You have to look at who Vistek's clientele is. They are looking for film production companies, who've just received funding for a new project and are coming in to drop 10's if not 100's of thousands of dollars in a single sitting. There are 5 guys sitting there in their tiny little cubicle offices, and if they got you, some other guy is now next in line when a big client comes in. You probably just cost them hundreds of dollars in commissions. A little guy like me looking for a $600 lens just isn't worth their while.. at least that's the way they act.
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